Discovery of pre-Neanderthal human remains

23 December 2014 - Projects update and handover - France

Discovery of pre-Neanderthal human remains The CBN quarry (Eurovia) at Tourville- la-Rivière, near Rouen (Normandy) arranged in 2010 for INRAP to undertake archaeological excavations prior to proceeding with its exploitation of this deposit of sand and gravel. In the course of these excavations, the INRAP archaeologists have discovered the remains of a pre-Neanderthal. This type of fossil is extremely rare in North-West Europe. This is the second discovery of this type in France. These human remains consist of three long bones from the left arm of a single individual, attributed to the Neanderthal family (between 118000 and 30000 BC).